This thesis is about software project scheduling and use of earned value method on software projects. As a result of the study, a solution for software project scheduling problems is proposed. A mathematical formulation, developed using integer programming method, is at the heart of the solution. Objective of the formulation is to minimize the development costs consisting of direct labor cost, indirect costs and probable penalty costs. The formulation takes the capability and compatibility variances among resources into account whereas contemporary approaches mostly focus on resource availability. Formulation is of type discrete time and takes the time span to be searched as input. Therefore a heuristic approach has been developed for providing time span input to the models developed using the formulation. The heuristic approach has been proven to be calculating a time span that does not hinder achieving the absolute optimum schedule and shortens the solution time of the integer programs. The heuristic approach and problem formulation have been incorporated into a computer program that generates integer programs and heuristic solutions. This thesis also describes a method for preparing an earned value plan, based on the scheduling solution defined. The method aims to help project managers in determining the status of their projects and deciding whether any corrective action is required or not. Besides the method, approaches for incorporating indirect costs and penalty costs, which are not explicitly discussed in literature, into final cost estimation have been described.

The rapidly changing consumer behaviour and the increasing demand of convenience has put pressure on corporations to utilise their various capabilities more dynamically. As a result, operating through channels that are not synergised is no longer as effective as it used to be, and businesses are struggling with combining their existing channels with the market development. For Multinational corporations (MNCs) traditionally based on brick-and-mortar retailing, this has proven to be especially difficult as the market develops towards electronic solutions, but with a significant demand still for physical stores. This study aims to, by the assistance of theory, investigate the practice of how MNCs can utilise their capabilities dynamically in order to make their cross-channel integration process more dynamic, and thus maintaining their competitive advantage. Empirical data has been gathered through a case study on a brick-and-mortar MNC that is, at the time of this research, going through the process of cross-channel integration. Primary data has been gathered through semi-structured interviews that has also resulted in providing the secondary data in regard to the process. The combined data has then been analysed, using a pattern matching method, together with literature within both cross-channel integration and dynamic capabilities. The findings indicate that resources that can be connected to theory within dynamic capabilities play a central role in successful cross-channel integration. Furthermore, being up-to-date in terms of trends & development, having clear, change encouraging, company values and making sure that the employees are actively participating in the process is indicated to be of especial importance.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to describe customer-related knowledge utilisation in the collaborative relationships of professional service organisations. Within this specific context, knowledge transfer capabilities are emphasised as an important prerequisite in the utilisation process. Effective organisation-level knowledge utilisation is crucial in collaborative relationships of professional service organisations. In order to formulate a coherent service offering across different areas of expertise, for instance, it is beneficial to transfer customer knowledge between professionals, business units and functions. Knowledge utilisation across different expertise areas may also be an important prerequisite for an organisation's innovativeness and proactiveness in customer cooperation. Customer-related knowledge utilisation and related knowledge transfer processes are in this study approached from a relationship management perspective, and literature from organisation research, resource-based view and knowledge management is used as a theoretical basis. Empirically this study is based on a descriptive case study of two professional service firms in the field of business-to-business education and consultancy services. In the first case, an in-depth analysis of an organisation developing a collaborative relationship in the outsourcing situation is described. In the second case, additional views are given on organisational practices potentially facilitating customer-related knowledge transfer. Empirical results show that internal fragmentation in the professional service organisation seems to be, to a large extent, inherent in this type of organisation, and may cause many problems in customer-related knowledge transfer and thus in effective utilisation of that knowledge. These knowledge transfer inhibitors rise from an organisation's characteristics; its dominant logic, culture, structure and systems. These organisational characteristics are bound to the characteristics of knowledge itself: its tacitness, non-observability and complexity, and can have an inhibiting influence on knowledge transfer. However, in spite of the inherent forces causing internal fragmentation and inhibiting knowledge transfer, moderating practices of a well-planned relationship coordination system, customer knowledge and expertise codification, and cooperative working practices among the experts seem to help to maintain customer knowledge transfer and utilisation, and thus also continuity and value creation in the long-term relationships. This value creation can be seen to be based on accessing and integrating a wide variety of knowledge resources in order to create innovative, flexible and multifaceted service offerings. Value creation can also be based on organisational ability for generative learning in order to change prevailing organisational assumptions and to develop the operations model needed in collaborative relationship.

This case study features an exploratory investigation involving capability development among technologically oriented student entrepreneurs within the University of Ottawa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Utilization took place of a mixed methods approach involving a survey of student entrepreneurs, interviews with facilitators and student entrepreneurs, and secondary data where possible. This mixed methods approach was necessary to collect a ‘thickness’ of data to justify a case study research design, including a check for robustness such as to demonstrate ‘trustworthiness’ of the data. Unique insights build on existing literature to offer a contribution to knowledge. Although the university ecosystem offered varied supporting mechanisms, perceived barriers also existed. Moreover, invariably the development of threshold rather than dynamic capabilities took place. Implications for practitioners follow from the theoretical contributions in order to facilitate a more effective university entrepreneurial ecosystem. In particular, a need exists to enhance the development of capabilities that build traction and scalability.

The constant pressure to achieve increased efficiency and profitability improvements drives companies to look at new technologies for ways to develop sustainable advantages. At the same time, the breathtakingly rapid technological development of these technologies leads, not surprisingly, to different misconceptions about the impact of IT on businesses.  This dissertation aims at clarifying some of these misconceptions by exploring one such technological breakthrough, namely wireless information systems, as used to support mobile workforces. The dissertation analyses three companies devoted to the implementation of wireless information systems, that were confronted with a number of challenges, and investigates how these challenges were met by means of different capability development activities. Evidence from the cases shows that what really matters is not the technology in itself, but how organizations use it. This study suggests that the firms that give the best performance are not necessarily those that implement different breeds of technology, but rather those that are able to learn from the challenges they are confronted with – doing so moreover on repeated occasions by means of interlinked organizational innovation processes. Thus, a piece of advice offered in this dissertation is that it is not always so important to possess all the right capabilities from the beginning, but that one needs to possess the right capabilities to develop new capabilities. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2007</p>

Past research and government reports document that Security Force Assistance (SFA) provided by the United States to partner nations often failed to achieve the desired impact of developing the capacity and capability of the partner to defeat an insurgency and maintain security. A lack of research and available data inhibit the identification of reasons SFA programs fail. In this qualitative phenomenological study, the perspectives of recipients of training were explored to understand the factors that impact the development of capability and capacity as a result of SFA training. The agency theory was applied as the theoretical framework in the study to examine possible conflicting objectives between the United States and the partner nation. The research questions addressed the training effectiveness by exploring the perspectives of Sub-Sahara African soldiers that received training and senior leaders of their army that was engaged in counterinsurgency operations. Data from interviews with 17 soldiers that received training and 5 senior leaders were coded and compared to developed major themes. The results showed evidence of limited capability development but no capacity development as a result of SFA training. The primary reason for the lack of development was that the training provided skills the recipient army was not able to incorporate in its operations or sustain. The results of this study indicated issues that practitioners could address to improve SFA programs and achieve the desired impact. Creating more effective SFA programs will help develop partner nation security forces that can maintain security for their civilian populations in which human development can thrive and eliminate safe havens for terrorist organizations that threaten the United States and its allies.

In recent years, a research consensus has coalesced around the notion that human capital development and an efficient public service are critically important determinants of societal transformation, especially in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, there is no similarly wide agreement on how to systematically drive improvements in the quality of a nation's human capital or its public service. This thesis contributes to this debate and adds to the literature on strategies for effective civil service human capital development and management in a developing context. Specifically, the study interrogates and explores the experience of a developing country - Nigeria, to illustrate the dynamics of a typical civil service human capital and capability development (CD) strategy. I critically examine the social and relational complexities of the policy process and how dominant neo-liberal logic is constituted, forming part of the metanarrative in state identities that perpetuate unequal power relations, elite interests, and ineffective institutional arrangements. Influenced by post structural and social constructivist philosophies, the research challenges the dominant neo-liberal orthodoxy on human capital. In this regard and utilising a case study approach, the study critically explores and reveals how the standards for human capital development are negotiated in the Nigerian federal civil service (NFCS), and examines the discourses and practices they produce. I utilise the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse (SKAD) as well as policy documents and semi-structured interviews with senior policy planners, to capture the nuanced realities and everyday meanings that are lost in dominant metanarratives of civil service human capital reforms in SSA. These explorations are positioned within the broader development debates about the need to adopt social constructivist research frames to better understand contextual issues in the capability development (CD) process. The research findings indicate that while most reform programmes in the NFCS have been captivated by the capacity development and service delivery rhetoric, the complex interplay between the dearth of human capabilities and the politicisation of the implementation process means that the impact of such policies have been very minimal. The study reveals that the relational complexities between policy agents have been engendered largely by the nature of Nigeria's political economy, which appears to have produced dynamic and interweaving unequal power relations that have helped constitute discourses centred on institutional inefficiencies, including: 'patronage', 'intense rent-seeking', and 'personalisation' of the policy process that are currently ongoing. These discourses are actively navigated, produced and reproduced according to Nigeria's social and political contexts. I argue that this socially constituted and re-constituted locale creates a complex and uniquely challenging context for reforms, such that developing civil service capacities has become a major challenge, because 'reform' policies tend to serve the interests of a few powerful elites, who are bent on maintaining the status quo. The thesis makes key recommendations that recognise these challenges and provides policy options and a framework to help the Nigerian federal service embark upon a capability development initiative that will help improve the efficiency of the Service and lead to accelerated national development.

許多環境管理績效研究顯示廠商會受到許多內外部利害關係人的影響而促使廠商採行環境管理作為以提高環境管理績效。影響廠商行為的利害關係人有不同的類型(Freeman, 1984)，在環境管理議題方面，主要影響廠商行為的利害關係人有四種類型，分別為：規範性、組織性、社區和媒體(Henriques and Sadorsky, 1999)。其中規範性利害關係人對廠商環境管理行為的影響深遠(Cordano, Marshall And Silverman 2010; 2010 Darnall, Heniques and Sadorsky, 2010)。其次，股東也是對廠商環境管理行為具有影響力的利害關係人(Flammer, 2013)。再者，Kassinis and Vafeas (2006)發現在美國，社區型利害關係人壓力有助於提昇工廠的環境管理績效水準。然而，既有研究尚未清楚探討，利害關係人對新興經濟體廠商實際污染行為產生是否影響？據此，關於利害關係人與廠商實際環境污染行為的實證，本研究發現，本國大股東、國外法人股東，和已開發國家客戶等利害關係人的壓力皆會正向影響廠商實際環境污染行為。然而，設置獨立董事會導致廠商實際環境污染行為機率提高的實證結果，本研究將深入討論。 最後，本研究以微觀基礎架構去剖析廠商回應利害關係人要求，發展出符合環境管理規範的回應能力。本研究透過個案研究與內容分析等方式，區分出三種類型環境管理規範，分別是技術應用型環境管理規範、專業知識型環境管理規範，和跨領域專業知識型環境管理規範。針對不同類型的環境管理規範，廠商也發展出三種類型環境管理規範回應能力，分別是：單一部門整合回應能力、跨部門整合回應能力，和跨領域整合回應能力，並進一步討論不同環境管理規範和廠商環境管理規範回應能力的關係，以及說明研究限制和後續建議。 / There are many environmental management performance studies have shown that many firms will be affected by internal and external stakeholders, their pressures force firms to improve their environmental management performance as they adopt environmental management act. Different stakeholders’ pressures influence the behavior of firm (Freeman, 1984). To environmental management issues, there are four types of stakeholders may affect firm’s behavior, namely: normative, organizational, community and media (Henriques and Sadorsky, 1999). The normative stakeholder influence firm’s environmental management act deeply (Cordano , Marshall And Silverman 2010; 2010 Darnall, Heniques and Sadorsky, 2010) . In addition, shareholders also influence firm’s environmental management actions (Flammer, 2013). Kassinis and Vafeas (2006) found that in the United States, community-based stakeholders improve factory’s environmental management performance. However, the relationship between stakeholder’s pressures and emerging markets firm’s actual pollution behavior has not been clear. Relationships between Stakeholders and firm’s actual pollution behavior, our empirical findings show that home country’s major shareholders, foreign institutional shareholders, and developed country customers may positively improve actual pollution behavior of emerging market firm. However, firm with independent board directors may lead to increase firm’s actual pollution behavior; we also have intensely discussion to this empirical result. Finally, this study use the micro-foundation framework to demonstrate firm’s development of environmental management regulation’ responding capacities. This study uses case studies and content analysis to distinguish three types of environmental management regulations, which are technology applied environmental management regulation, professional knowledge-based environmental management regulation, and interdisciplinary knowledge-based environmental management regulation. With different types of environmental management regulations, firm developed three types’ capabilities to respond to those environmental management regulations, namely: single department's intergation ability to fit enrionmental management regulations, cross-department integration capability to fit emvironmental management resulations, and interdisciplinary integration capability to fit environmental management regulatuons, then we discuss the relationships between different types of environmental management regulations and firm’s integration capability to fit environmental regulations. Research limitations and future research issues also discussed.

Thesis topic is individualization in education as a means to educate gifted students at the elementary school. The aim is to find out how teachers educate gifted students at the elementary school and what types of individualization techniques applied in everyday teaching. Teacher's attitude to education of gifted students, issues orientation and differentiation of educational offerings. The focus of the theoretical part is description of the specific characteristics and the problems of gifted children, which affects educational process and the relationships with the teacher and classmates. Options education of gifted pupils, modification methods, forms of teaching and learning environment. The multiple practical part includes the study of three elementary schools, which includes observation of teaching involved interviews with teachers. The research described disunited approach teachers for gifted children with their education. Comparisons between schools showed large differences in the education of gifted children in the primary school. Each school uses a different system of education of gifted students, has other goals in the education of gifted students and each school has different approach to the problem of gifted children. Key words Gifted children, individualization, differentiation methods,...

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